Jake Woodhouse Books In Order

Publication Order of Inspector Rykel / Amsterdam Quartet Books

Jake Woodhouse is a noteworthy British author, who likes to write mystery and thriller books. He is particularly famous for writing the Amsterdam Quartet series. In addition to being a popular author, Woodhouse has also worked as a winemaker, entrepreneur, and musician. Currently, he resides in London along with his wife and a young gun-dog. Author Woodhouse says that he had always wanted to become a writer, however, the journey in achieving his dream took a long time. During his teenage, he used to spend most of his time snowboarding and skateboarding. It was at the age of 17 that Woodhouse heard a musical piece from an instrument that produced a languishing and beautiful sounds, and he eventually got interested in it. When he inquired about the musical instrument, Woodhouse came to know that it is called Oboe. The musical notes from Oboe captivated Woodhouse’s mind and it made him get hold of this form of music. Many people who knew author Woodhouse well took this as a surprise as he had long hair in his youth and seemed more like a Metal guy than a Mozart lover. Woodhouse managed to get his hands on an Oboe. It looked very horrible to him as it made from vulcanized rubber rather than wood. But Woodhouse got hooked to it after trying to make music from it for some time. And from then on, things began to turn for good. Two years later, author Woodhouse received a scholarship for studying at the Royal Music College of London. When Woodhouse reached his place, he had switched to baroque oboe.

During the first year of his college, author Woodhouse had started playing at the professional level. The situation in London at that time was booming with performances on original instruments. In the meantime, he also learned to manufacture baroque oboes. Woodhouse had even set up a workshop in his garden shed. In fact, some of the oboes made by him are still used in the musical field. Author Woodhouse has spent a couple of years living in Amsterdam. He was there to study for a post graduate degree in baroque oboe. During his course study, he was involved in several tours through different parts of Europe. However, after playing for a few years, Woodhouse started feeling an itch to take up something else in life. He got the idea of winemaking and eventually shifted to New Zealand and started learning winemaking in Marlborough and Christchurch. After Woodhouse gained enough experience in this field, he started working as a winemaker of several vintages in Italy. Author Woodhouse explains that the work seemed hard to do with awful pay and long hours of work. This forced him to leave this field and return back to UK. At this point in life, Woodhouse had no enough idea of what he will do next. He was busy with something or the other to make his ends meet. Later, Woodhouse fell ill and was hospitalized in the emergency ward. The nurse who attended him suggested by reading his name that with such a name he should try tow rite thiller books. These words stuck in his mind, making him realize that he was always interested in becoming an author, but he did not have the courage to give it a try. When Woodhouse was discharged from the hospital, the first thing he did was to develop a thrilling story and put it on paper. This eventually helped him to complete the writing part of his first book. It became a success and helped Woodhouse find what he always wanted to do. He says that he liked the sheer thrill of putting down the words on page.

The Amsterdam Quarted series written by Jake Woodhouse is comprised of a total of 3 books, which were released between the years 2014 and 2017. All the books depict Jaap Rykel in the lead role and take place in Amsterdam. The debut novel of this series is entitled ‘After the Silence’. It was released by the Penguin publication in the year 2014. The opening lines of the book describe that a dead body is hanging from a hook in the old town of Amsterdam and cell phone is shoved into the mouth of the victim. At the start of the book’s story, it is shown that in a distant coastal village, a couple dies due to a fire breakout and the investigators find the ashes of a doll in the house. But, it is learned that the couple did not have any kids. Therefore, the suspect that a small girl might have escaped. Now, it becomes important for them to find this girl and find out the details about her. Inspector Jaap Rykel, who is the in charge of this case, knows that he is trying to hunt a brutal and clever murderer. Rykel still grieves the violent death of his previous partner. He understands that he must team up with a junior detective from outside of his town and work alongside her to catch this deadly criminal. However, the junior detective is fighting the demons of her own. Rykel tries very hard to track down the killer and stop him from taking any other life. The investigation brings to light a couple of dark truths, the first of which is that all the residents of the city have hidden secrets, while the second truth is that a heavy price is to be paid by the one who comes to know the secrets.

The second book of the series is called ‘Into the Night’. It was published by Penguin UK in 2015. At the beginning of the story of this book, it is depicted that a man wearing a police uniform pushes a woman in front of a high speed train. Later, a dead body is found on the rooftop of a house, with the hands of the victim scorched and head cut off from the body. These two killings describe one more typical day in the murder capital of western Europe, Amsterdam. It appears that the murderer has announced that it is just the beginning. In order to stop the increasing body count and hunt down the maniac killer, Inspecter Jaap Rykel is given the task once again. As Rykel investigates the beheaded dead body for finding clues about its identity, he discovers something extremely shocking and disturbing that makes his blood cold. He begins to wonder why there were photographs of himself and his house in the phone of the victim. While searching for answers to the questions, he gets closer to the killer and hopes to close the case once and for all after catching him.